President William Ruto has signed the controversial Affordable Housing Bill. The event was held at the State House in Nairobi on Tuesday, to pave the way for the return of housing fee deductions.
The bill was approved by the Senate and the National Assembly last week with several amendments including the inclusion of county governments. Both employers and employees will deduct 1.5% from their monthly wages.
The tax was declared by the Supreme Court in 2023 to be unconstitutional and then the Court of Appeal accepted the decision, holding that the tax was introduced without legal procedure. The bill sets out four Affordable Housing Acts.
They include the Social Housing Category for people who earn less than Ksh.20,000, the middle category for people who earn more than Ksh.49,000, Affordable Housing for those who earn between Ksh.20,000 to Ksh.149,000 and Rural Housing for those who live outside urban areas.
Some of the institutions that will be given the responsibility to implement the Housing project include the Ministry of Housing, the National Housing Corporation (NHC), County governments and Private Organizations as approved by the management board of the fund; Affordable Housing Board.
